Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban: How We Saved Our Marriage
FROM A SHOCKING BETRAYAL TO HEARTBREAKING FERTILITY ISSUES, NICOLE KIDMAN AND KEITH URBAN NEARLY DIDN’T MAKE IT TO THEIR 15TH ANNIVERSARY.
With their 15th wedding anniversary near, the couple look back at the hurdles they faced en route to wedded bliss.
SHE played a wronged wife in The Undoing, struggling to comprehend her husband’s betrayal. And her Big Little Lies character suffered unspeakable pain at the hands of her husband. Off-screen, on the other hand, Nicole Kidman revels in her rock-solid — and still hot — marriage to Keith Urban. Or “my love,” as she calls him in a sweet social-media post, while he dubs her his “baby girl.”
It’s hasn’t always been easy. As they gear up for their 15th wedding anniversary June 25, a Star insider reveals Nicole and Keith, both 53, nearly didn’t make it to the milestone. Or even their f irst anniversay! Between addiction and fertility issues and two busy careers, they’ve had to fight for their marriage. Now, during lockdown, they’ve learned to slow down and appreciate each other. Says the insider, “Isolating together has helped them connect even more.”
UPS AND DOWNS
The two fell for each other fast. Meeting at a 2005 Australian diplomacy gala, they felt an instant connection; and within a few months, the Oscar winner was head over heels for her fellow Aussie. “By that point,” she’s recalled, “he was the love of my life. The honeymoon didn’t last long. Months after their 2006 wedding, reports emerged that Keith had strayed during their engagement with a woman he met a Nashville bar. By then, he later admitted, Keith — who’d been to rehab twice before — was abusing drugs and alcohol again. In his lowest moments, the “One Too Many Singer” revealed he went on cocaine and ecstasy benders and “remember[ed] thinking, ‘I’m probably not going to make it until tomorrow.’”
In what should have been a time of bliss, Nicole instead found herself staging an intervention. “I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage,” Keith’s said of that time. After three months in rehab, he vowed to “shake off the shackles of addiction.” More heartbreak lay in store, as Nicole — who had dealt with infertility and miscarriage during her first marriage to Tom Cruise, with whom she ultimately adopted kids Bella, 28, and Conor, 26 — was desperate to get pregnant. “I had tried and failed and failed and failed,” she’s said of her fertility issues. Though she was finally able to conceive daughter Sunday, 12, and to welcome daughter Faith, 10, via surrogate, the journey was fraught for the couple. “Keith tried to be there for her,” reports the insider. “But she spiraled into a state of despair and depression and shut herself off. She panicked that Keith would leave her because she couldn’t get pregnant.”
CEMENTING THEIR BOND
Their much hoped for family ushered in new challenges for the in-demand stars. Keith’s months-long tours and Nicole’s grueling producing and acting schedule forced them to spend months apart, and that vacuum created doubt, says the insider: “There were trust issues and jealous fights.”
Over the years, the couple sought “sporadic” marriage counseling to teach them how to keep their bond strong. Those lessons came in handy during the pandemic. “It forced them to talk through and deal with their issues, and to set some new intentions — to have regular date nights and vacations, and to speak at least every day when they’re apart,” says the insider. “They’ve also been working on their physical connection.” Adds the insider, “They’re still navigating through issues just like any other married couple, but now they feel like they have the right tools. They’re stronger than ever.”★
“They’ve learned to talk through their issues and set new intentions.”
— a friend tells Star